Just wanted to share a poem I found on another website (survivnginfidelity.com).

Heartbreak..

You came into my life
and nothing has ever been the same since.
You touched a special part of me
that no one had ever touched before.
The vulnerable me that longs to be loved.
You lit up my life with laughter,
shared my hopes and dreams,
dried my tears and loved me.
You were a treasured person in my life.

Then things began to change.
The man I knew and loved began to leave,
and in his place was a cold distant stranger
who seemed to want to crush and destroy me.
Where there had been love, warmth and acceptance,
there was coldness and hostility.

Confused and bewildered,
I tried so hard to make things right,
searched for an answer to the question "why".
For a long time my memories of what once had been,
fed into my hope that the tender times would come again.
The hope died slowly,
replaced by sorrow.
As I descended into the darkness
of total despair.

Leaving you was the hardest thing I ever did,
but I knew I had to do it to survive.
Bewildered, alone, afraid
I turned my back on all I believed in,
and began the quest
through the darkness, toward light,
to reclaim me.

It takes a long time to pick up the shattered pieces,
and to painstakingly rebuild.
Deep wounds may heal,
but I am not the same. I am changed.
I struggle to come to terms with that.
Will the woman who eventually emerges
somehow learn to trust agsin?

But there are unexpected gifts.
Sorrow has carved new depth in me.
There is greater understanding and compassion,
And I now know,
the most precious person in my life is me.
I am recieving myself back,
and that gift is all the more precious,
because it is truly mine.

Kay Douglas

SH01